The Other Side of the War

Memoirs of a teenage GI coming of age during World War II.  Enlisting at seventeen, in short order the author learns to smoke, drink, cuss and cheat at cards.  A little later on, he grows his first facial hair and loses his virginity.   But he also describes the darker side of his experience the killing, the atrocities and the pain of seeing several of his army buddies killed or wounded during the battle for Okinawa.

Yet Taylor candidly admits that his combat experience bears...
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Memoirs of a teenage GI coming of age during World War II.  Enlisting at seventeen, in short order the author learns to smoke, drink, cuss and cheat at cards.  A little later on, he grows his first facial hair and loses his virginity.   But he also describes the darker side of his experience the killing, the atrocities and the pain of seeing several of his army buddies killed or wounded during the battle for Okinawa.

Yet Taylor candidly admits that his combat experience bears little resemblance to the horrors faced by his real heroes of the war, the marines and infantry who bore the brunt of the fighting and dying.  Instead, serving in the field artillery, he, and probably millions like him, avoided heavy combat and high casualties by serving on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WAR.  Now, more than fifty years later, he still wishes he could have contributed more to support the real warriors.